DENNIS CULVER (1945 -      )

After college I was mostly interested in nonobjective painting and creating conceptual (no commercial potential) pieces. Then, caught up in a pre-reductionist phase, I sloshed resin on fiberglass (something I learned in the early days of surfing) and sculpted burnt wood. During one experimental period I did a number of earth works, on site in woodlands and creeks. But I was also getting commissions to do landscapes and portraits and other realistic subjects. My first solo exhibition was in 1968 in Studio City, California. I was a brash kid showing student work. It wasn't necessarily an auspicious beginning.

Most of my work has been done in New Mexico since moving here in 1969. It was the land, the sky and the people that kept me here; the spirit fed me. There was music.

Inspiration comes from many sources: mythology, humor, anthropology, geology, life drawing sessions, the daily news. The work ranges in the broad categories of realism, surrealism, and some form of what I call abstracto-concoctionism. Sometimes I’m given to illustration, caricatures and cartoons. At the core of it all is drawing.

© 2001 Dennis Culver. Dennis Culver is a proud member of the Culver family of products.